A Missionary Poisoned -nyt19151113b
A MISSIONARY POISONED
The Rev. F. H. Lesile of Michigan Killed at Urfa
NOVEMBER 13, 1915
BOSTON, Nov. 12.---The death by poison of the Rev. Francis H. Leslie of Northport, Mitch., a missionary stationed at Urfa, Asiatic Turkey, was announced today by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Ambassador Morgenthau at Constantinople, who notified the State Department at Washington of the death, reported that he was making a thorough investigation to determine the responsibility, and that, pending the result of this inquiry, he had formed no opinion as to the case.
The Ambassador's information was based on a telegram from the Consul at Aleppo. Mr. Leslie, who had been acting as an intermediary for 300 British, French Italian, and Russian refugees who were interned at Urfa, had been in close touch with the Consul. He had been appointed consular Agent by the United States to facilitate his handing of monthly allowances sent to the interned persons, but the Turkish Government, according to the Rev. James L. Barton, Secretary of the American Board.
Mr. Leslie had been the only missionary R Urfa, which is a remote station in North Mesopotamia on the Arabian border, since 1912. The station included an extensive industrial plant, employing several thousand persons.
A hard copy of this article or hundreds of others from the time of the Armenian Genocide can be found in The Armenian Genocide: News Accounts From The American Press: 1915-1922